Nevus flammeus nuchae

A stork bite, or nevus Unna ( - Politzer ), nevus occipital or Bossard - spot is a red skin patch, a nevus flammeus ( port-wine stain ), the most on the back of the head, rarely occurs on the forehead, over the sacrum or on the eyelids of a baby.

By the most common placement at the lower hairline at the back of the stork bite gets its name. It looks as if " the stork brings babies ", held here the baby with the beak.

Formation

The red color is caused by increased and spider veins ( capillaries ). It is characterized by the intensification of the color with increased blood flow as with excitement or during crying.

Maybe the stork bite is caused by minimal malfunction in the eversion of the neural tube in the fetal period.

Frequency

Stork bites are harmless and occur at about 60 to 70% of all newborns. Most of these skin redness goes off in the first year of life, but may persist over a long time, especially in the neck and over the sacrum.

Similar diseases

It should not be confused with the stork bite the hemangioma, a coil-like benign tumor of blood vessels, which is not a flat redness, but is slightly raised from the skin level, and is therefore also called " Blutschwamm ".